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Bourbon Hot Dog Bites: A Shockingly Tasty Recipe from Dead to the Last Drop

Whenever my husband and I make these babies, we cannot stop eating them. Seriously. These bites are shockingly tasty. That's why they make fantastic party food. Of course, the bourbon keeps things spirited, too!

The bites can be served as shown or you can use a little slow cooker to keep them warm throughout the evening. You can also substitute small meatballs or brats for the dogs and even change up the bourbon.

Our Coffeehouse Mystery readers may recall this recipe from Dead to the Last Drop. When our amateur sleuth faced a room full of hungry after-hours customers, she and her daughter (along with their beloved cook Luther), throw together this insanely easy snack.

Marc and I have seen versions of this dish around the inter-web, but the recipe predates the digital domain. Given that a version of it was in my late father's Unemployed Cookbook, the basic recipe is at least 40 years old.

Here's how we tweaked this classic for inclusion in our recent culinary mystery: We added dry mustard for better complexity of flavor. We used dark brown sugar instead of light brown for the same reason.

Finally, we're sharing our bright idea of using pretzel sticks instead of the usual toothpicks or cocktail forks to spear them. That little bit of salty crunch with the sweet bourbon bite certainly had us eating with joy. We hope you do, too. ~ Cleo

Ingredients:1 pound of your favorite hot dogs*

1 cup ketchup (we use Heinz Natural)

1 cup bourbon** (we use Jim Beam)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 cup dark brown sugar (for serving) Thin pretzel sticks

*Note 1: This recipe is delicious with beef or pork hot dogs, as well as Brats and cocktail meatballs.